1st amendment?

Question

I was wondering how if U.S. citizens have to pay $$ and get approval to protest their Gov't how is that not taking the 1st amendment right and turning it into a privilege?

Answer 1

They do not have to get approval -- and while filing a court case usually costs money (for the paperwork -- ignoring attorney costs), you can get a waiver of costs so that the govt doesn't charge for the suit itself.

The right to petition guarantees everyone access to the courts -- that's the basic function, though it has other aspects.

And the difference between a right and a privilege is not whether you pay for it -- it's whether the govt can deny it.

Answer 2

It's not true that you need approval OR money to merely protest the government. Any individual can freely protest anything they like, and this would be covered under the first amendment.

However, to stage a protest, one normally needs to get a permit from some level of government, merely for safety reasons. If the city, state, whatever doesn't give you this then it is your right to litigate the matter.

Unfortunately, in our society, one of the only ways to get a message out there is through popular media, such as TV. And it's pretty hard to get on TV, unless you're already rich. Still, that doesn't mean that one can not protest, it merely means our society rather than our government has made it hard to do so.